It’s been seven years since a man from the United States won the country’s most important tennis tournament. It’s also been that long since an American man won any Grand Slam singles title.

Querrey is all too aware of such statistics and the chatter about such droughts. The 20th-seeded Querrey, cheered on by a boisterous, partisan crowd, beat 14th-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to reach the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the second time in three years.

“The average sports fan watches the Grand Slams, and they watch on Saturday and Sunday and the semis and the finals,” said the 22-year-old Querrey, the youngest man left in the field. “That’s what we need to do. We need to get some guys there.”

At the 2009 U.S. Open, zero U.S. men reached the quarterfinals for the first time in the history of an event that began in 1881. This time, of 15 Americans who entered the tournament, there are two who still are around for the fourth round – Querrey and No. 19 Mardy Fish – after No. 18 John Isner lost to No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Sunday despite hitting 33 aces.

Isner, best known for winning the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon in June, got broken early in each of the first two sets, then was down 5-1 in the second before making things interesting. But Youzhny came up with one of his five aces to end the third-set tiebreaker, then broke the 6-foot-9 Isner again early in the fourth. Youzhny heads to the U.S. Open’s fourth round for the first time since he was a semifinalist in 2006.

Querrey never has been to the quarterfinals at a major tournament, nor has his next opponent, No. 25-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

“Probably the most difficult tournament for us, no?” Nadal said after beating Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. “So that is very important news for Spanish tennis.”

There is only one American woman left, and it’s seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, who struggled with her serve but eventually solved 16th-seeded Shahar Peer 7-6 (3), 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals in New York for the 10th time.

Williams was the last woman to win the U.S. Open two years in a row, in 2000 and 2001, and defending champion Kim Clijsters is trying to match that feat.

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